Wire-reeling apparatus.



'PATENTED MAR. 8,1904.

G.L.PAGKE R. WIRE RBBLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 27, 1902.

K0. MODEL.

IJNTTED STATES Patented March 8, 1904.

CHARLES L. PACKER, OF WILTON JUNCTION, IOWA.

WIRE-REELING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,006, dated March 8, 1904.

Application filed December 27, 1902. Serial No. 136,837. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, CHARLES L. PAGKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wilton Junction, in the county of Muscatine and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Wire- Reeling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices employed for reeling and unreeling wire, more particularly in building and repairing fences, and has for its object the production of a simply-constructed and easily-applied device which may be attached to and operated from an ordinary wagon and employed for either reeling the wire upon spools when taking up the wire from fences which are to be removed or repaired or to reel the wire from the spools when building new fences or replacing or relocating old ones; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, as hereinafter shown and described, and specified in the claims.

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters in all the figures, Figure 1 is a plan view of the rear portion of a wagon with the improvement applied. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view from the rear of the vehicle. Fig. 3 is a detail side view. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of the wire-guide adjustment.

The device may be applied to any ordinary farm-wagon, and for the purpose of illustration a conventional vehicle of this class is shown, representing the box, and 11 12 the rear wheels.

In the accompanying drawings, referencesign 13 designates a frame suitably supported upon the vehicle and which is arranged to extend transversely with respect to the vehiclebody and which maybe suitably secured thereto. A convenient means for clamping the frame 13 to the vehicle-body 10 is shown, wherein bolts 14 15 are arranged to pass through the frame 13 and through a clamping-bar 16 beneath the wagon-box, the lower ends of the bolts carrying nuts 17 18 for securing the clamping action. The wire spools or reels, upon or from which the wire is to be reeled, may be of any suitable construction and arrangement. Since the reels will generally, be used upon one side only at a time, only one reel is shown in position, as indicated at 34. The reels 34 may be clamped or supported in any suitable manner to be rotated. In the particular form shown, to which my invention, however is not to be limited or restricted, the reels are adapted to be slipped upon the ends of a shaft 25, upon which shaft are mounted, at the respective ends thereof, the pairs of cooperating clamps 31 and 32 33. Between the members of each pair of clamps a reel or spool is tobe clamped. The set-screws 35 36 may serve to hold in place the clamps 30 31. By this construction it will be seen that any form of reel or spool may be employed, the pairs of clamps 3O 31 being adapted to accommodate themselves thereto.

In the practical operation of a wire-reeling device embodying the principles of my invention it is desirable to impart rotationto the reel-supporting shaft 25. A simple and efii- 'cient manner of accomplishing this result is to so mount the shaft 25 relatively to the wheels 11 12 of the vehicle as that the rotation of such wheels may be communicated to shaft 25, and hence also tothe wire-reel or spool. Therefore, in accordance with the principles of my invention, I propose to provide suitable means for driving shaft 25 from said wheels 11 12, and in the efficient operation of the device I propose to so mount shaft 25 that such driving connection may be readily and easily engaged and disengaged. A simple arrangement is shown, wherein I mount upon shaft 25 friction drive-pulleys 26 27, arranged to be brought into peripheral contact with the wheels 11 12, whereby the rotation of said wheels may be communicated to shaft 25. In order to enable shaft 25 to be raised or lowered to effect a driving engagement or disengagement of said shaft with respect to the driving mechanism therefor, I arrange a supporting bail or strap 53 for shaft 25, the arms 23 and 24 of said bail or strap carrying supporting-clips 28 29, arranged to embrace shaft 25, thereby forming a journal-box therefor and operating to support the shaft while permitting rotation thereof therein. The arms 23 24 are pivotally connected at the free ends thereof in any suitable manner, whereby through a handle 5-1 or otherwise the strap or bail 53, together with shaft 25 and reels or spools carried thereby, may be raised or lowered so as to carry pulleys 26 27 free from driving engagement with respect to the driving-wheels 11 12. A convenient arrangement for pivotally connecting the free ends of arms 23 24 is shown, but to which, however, my invention is not to be limited or restricted, wherein the clamp-bolts 1A 15 are provided with rings or eyes 19 20 in the upper ends thereof, which pass through the frame 13, said rings or eyes not only preventing the bolts from being withdrawn through the frame, but also affording means of pivotal attachment of corresponding eyes or rings 21 22 of arms 23 24:.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I provide an exceedingly simple construction and arrangement, whereby the reelsupporting shaft 25 is carried in a rocking or swinging frame to the end that the drivingpulleys or gears 26 27 thereon may be brought into engaging or disengaging relation with respect to the driving-wheels or other form of gearing, and it will also be seen that provision is made for adjustment of the frame 13 along the body or box 10 of the wagon or other vehicle, so as to bring the shaft 25 into proper relation with respect to the drive: gears 26 27 and wheels 11 12.

It is desirable in apparatus of this kind to provide means for deploying the wire reeled from or upon the reels or spools, so as to properly guide the wire from end to end of the spool or reel. This result may be accomplished in many different ways. A simple arrangement is shown, wherein a bar 37 is mount ed for adjustment or movement transversely of the wagon or vehicle bed or body and carrying suitable wire-guides L6 47 in the form of rollers, between which the wire leads to or from the reel. Of course it is to be understood that guides 4647 may be arranged at each end of the bar 37, so as to provide for guiding wire to or from the reel at either side of the wagon body or box. The guide-rollers may be supported by brackets 48 19.

In order to hold the bar 37 in place, while at the same time permitting longitudinal movement thereof, so as to properly deploy the wire lengthwise of the reels, I provide said bar with longitudinal slots 38 39, through which extend clamping-bolts 40 4:1 the latter, through the medium of shoulders 42 and nuts on the ends thereof or otherwise, serving to clamp the bar 37 in place while permitting the same to move longitudinally. Longitudinal movements may be imparted to bar 37 in any suitable or convenient manner-as, for instance, by means of a lever 50, pivotally mounted and having one end arranged to operate between pins 51 52 on bar 37.

By this simple arrangement of mechanism when the wire of a line of fence is to be taken up the vehicle, with the improved device attached, will be driven parallel to the fence and the wire reeled upon the spools as fast as required and properly distributed along the surface of the reel by adjusting the guiderollers 16 or 4:7, as the casemay be.

IVhen building new fences or when relaying old fences, the action is reversed, the device working equally well in both capacities.

The device may thus be perfectly and easily controlled from the vehicle and the wire taken up or laid down without the necessity for the wire being touched by the operators. This is a great advantage, especially when handling barbed wire, as the hands of the operator are not thereby liable to be lacerated by the barbs.

The parts may be of any suitable material, and may be manufactured cheaply and durab y.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. A wire-reeling attachment for vehicles, wagons or the like, comprising an upper frame member, a lower frame member, and clamping devices connecting the two, a pivotally-mounted journal-frame carried by said upper frame member, a transverse shaft journaled in said pivoted frame, rollers upon said shaft, and reel-supports carried at the extremities of said shaft, as. and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a vehicle having a body of a frame transversely disposed there on, clamp-bolts for the frame having eyes in their upper ends above the frame and connected to the vehicle-body by their lower ends, a shaft having pulleys in frictional contact with the wheels of the vehicle, wire-spool supports carried by said shaft, spaced rods having eyes in one end movably engaging the eyes in said clamp-bolts and connected to the said shaft, wire-guides carried movably by said frame, and means for adjusting said guides transversely of the path of the wire leading to or from said spools, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a vehicle, of a frame mounted thereon, a shaft mounted to swing from said frame and carrying pulleys in frictional contact with the wheels of the vehicle, wire-spool supports carried by said shaft, a bar provided with slots and sliding longitudinally upon the frame, bolts secured to the frame and extending through the slots in the bar, brackets having opposite rollers carried by said bar, and means for adjusting the bar to move the rolls transversely across the path of the wire.

4. The combination with a vehicle of a frame transversely disposed thereon, clamp-bolts having eyes in their upper ends above the frame and with their lower ends threaded, a clamp-plate transversely disposed beneath said vehicle and engaging said clamp-bolts and held thereon by clamp-nuts, a shaft having pulleys in frictional contact with the wheels of the vehicle, and carrying wire-spool supports, and means for coupling said shaft to the clamp-bolt eyes, substantially as described.

5. A wire-reeling attachment for vehicles, wagons or the like, comprising an upper frame member, a lower frame member, and clamping devices connecting the two, a transverse shaft and a support therefor pivotally mounted on said upper frame member, rollers carried by said shaft and arranged to contact with the wheels of the vehicle, and supports adjacent to the extremities of said shaft and arranged to removably engage the usual wire-carrying reels, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. A wire-reeling attachment for vehicles, wagons or the like, comprising an upper frame CHARLES L. PACKER.

Witnesses:

W. W. BAMIEOK, H. WILDASIN- 

